The Naval Defeat that Saved the Revolution

October 14, 2009 · Filed Under History, Lore of the Sea 

valcour_fadenmapThe most important naval battle of the American revolution, which may have saved the revolution itself from near certain defeat, was a British victory.   The Americans were lead not by an admiral but rather a general whose name would later become synonymous with treason.  The battle was fought  hundreds miles from the nearest ocean, in a fresh water lake surrounded by two mountain ranges.   It was the Battle of Valcour Island  fought on October 11th, 1776 in Lake Champlain.

The British plan for winning the war with the American rebels was relatively simple.  Move troops from the Saint Lawrence Seaway, down Lake Champlain and march to Albany where they would link up with troops moving up the Hudson from New York.  The move would cut the colonies in two, separating rebellious New England from the Middle Colonies and the South.  In 1776, the Americans effectively had no army in the North to resist the British.  The only hope of stopping the British advance was a hastily assembled fleet of boats and barges under the command of General Benedict Arnold.  

British General Guy Carleton, who had just driven the Americans out of Quebec, had an army ready to move, but lacked the boats to move them.  The retreating Americans had burned or fled with all that would float.  The Americans had also captured an armed schooner of 12 guns which gave them nominal control of the lake.   Both sides spent all summer building their fleets at either end of Lake Champlain.  The British took apart  HMS Inflexible, a 180-ton warship, carried the pieces around the rapids at the head of the lake and reassembled the ship in Lake Champlain.

When the two fleet met on October 11th, it did not go well for the Americans. The British fleet outnumbered and outgunned the Americans. By the end of the day most of the American ships were damaged or sinking. 

Ironically, the tactical victory for the British was a major strategic defeat.   It was late in the season. Winter would arrive soon, leaving no time for campaigning.  The British retreated to winter quarters, ready to make the attempt again the next year.  By then, of course, the Americans had assembled an army and when the British moved south under General Burgoyne  in 1777, they were defeated and force to surrender at Saratoga.  This major American victory finally convinced the French to join the war on the side of the Americans and as the cliché goes, the rest is history.

All of which would not have been possible were it not for a long forgotten naval battle, fought far inland between mountain peaks, where an American fleet commanded by a general was soundly defeated.  Ironically, Arnold’s defeat at Valcour Island is often referred to as Arnold’s “victory.”  As we noted in a previous post, Whitehall, New York, where Arnold’s fleet was largely built, lays claim to the title of “Birthplace of the US Navy.”   It is one at least three other locales to make that claim.

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HMS Surprise and Star of India

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